Digital Horizons: New 52 Goes Live

A lot of talk this week about DC's New 52, and the accompanying same-day digital release plan. Time Out Chicago talked to several retailers to find out what they think about the potential threat digital comics pose. Based on this article at least, retailers seem for the most part unconcerned. One says, "If you’re a person who likes your comics digitally, you’re probably already getting them, for free, from pirate sites." A logical conclusion, and I hope for his sake that he's right, but anecdotal evidence makes me question the universal truth of his statement. I, for one, am one of those dreaded print comics readers who has now made the switch to digital (and would never think of pirating), and so is Scipio of The Absorbascon, and at least a couple of the readers who comment on his blog. Scipio is much less apologetic about this transition than I am, and honestly it makes me feel a little better to hear a former comic shop owner say this:

This is not a decision a former comic bookstore chain owner makes lightly. Stores that purvey entertainment "hard-copy" (e.g., video rental stores, bookstores, comic shops, computer game centers, record stores, video arcades, news stands) are, mildly put, not doing as well as they used to. The digitization of most forms of education/entertainment is a major coup for the accessibility of information of all types... but it's brick and mortar stores that are taking the blow. While many are making ingenious attempts at adaptation and leveraging of the new tech, the handwriting is on the wall. Or, perhaps, more accurately, on the screen of the touchpad. God has numbered the days of their reign and brought it to an end; it has been found wanting; its kingdom is divided and given to the Apps and the Netflix.  

On a more hopeful note, as far as the conventional direct market goes, another retailer notes in the Time Out article that "Record stores didn’t completely disappear [due to digital-music downloading], but the chain multimedia stores did. We’ll still have a place in the same way that Reckless Records does, despite iTunes."


In an article on Digidaydaily.com, DC Digital SVP Hank Kanalz is quoted as saying, "What we heard anecdotally is that people have been coming into comic book stores and buying more titles and asking about digital delivery." Which is nice, but doesn't really mean anything. I mean, I offered anecdotal evidence above, but I'm a blogger whose decisions have very little impact, not an executive making decisions that potentially have a huge impact on the comics industry. Couldn't DC, you know, actually look at some real numbers or something in order to back up this decision? Or is it that the numbers wouldn't support their friendly-to-retailers stance, so they stick with the anecdotal evidence?


Even more interesting to me, though, is that the same article speaks of DC's "plans in motion to make all 75 years of the company’s publishing output available at some point." I haven't heard this plan explicitly stated before now, but I certainly hope that's their plan. They have a lot of good stuff in their back catalog that I'd love to see made available digitally. 


Despite whatever reservations I have, I will agree with Kanalz that this is "an exciting time for comics." It's certainly good news for digital comics that Justice League 1 has set digital records. I hope in the long run it is good not only for people like me who like to read comics digitally, but for the industry as a whole. 

Digital Horizons: Marvel Claims Digital Supremacy, Digital Storefronts Go Live

Last weekend Joe Quesada made the claim that Marvel is the #1 digital publisher. This week Graeme McMillan, who is quickly becoming my favorite Blog@Newsarama contributor (with all due respect to his fellow contributors, who also write great stuff), asked (a) what does that mean? and (b) how on earth would Joe Quesada know that?

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This week Comixology's Digital Storefront program went live. Apparently, some retailers are not happy about the terms of the program. For example:

...you give up your right to sue or form class action lawsuits; comiXology has the right to use your service marks to promote their digital service; you're obligated to promote the service in-store to existing customers; there are some circumstances where you don't receive even a single penny until you sell well over 600 comics, and so on and so forth...

I'm kind of bummed about this. As I mentioned the other day, I feel somewhat ambivalent about being one of those people who are giving up print comics in favor of digital, thus screwing over the direct market. I understand that the direct market is important for the survival of the comics industry as we know it. At the same time, I and every other consumer have to make decisions that make the most sense for us--comic shops are not charities we should be guilted into donating to. Digital is what makes sense for me right now, but I was  hoping the Digital Storefront program would give me a way to do what's best for me while still supporting businesses that I value.

I don't know anything about how the program works except for what I've quoted from Brian Hibbs above, but based on what I can observe, this is what I think needs to happen:

• Retailers need to be able to customize the display, just as they arrange the comics they display in their shops. Right now, what I see is basically Comixology's web app framed on the retailer's website.
• Retailers need to be able to offer subscriber discounts, and they need to be making enough of a profit that they can afford to do this. Right now pricing appears to be determined by Comixology, which means I have no incentive to buy from Comics Dungeon instead of buying directly from Comixology, except that I think they're good people and I want to help keep them in business. Altruism only goes so far in a capitalistic economy.
• Apart from alternative pricing, retailers need to be able to offer something Comixology doesn't. Like, I dunno, signed copies or region-specific variants? Again, consumers need incentives to buy from the retailers. 

The problem, as Hibbs points out, is that Comixology wants to be a retailer (actually, the retailer), not a distributor (not even the distributor). And Comixology doesn't have incentive to do otherwise, so as Hibbs says, the problem lies at DC's feet. Or mine, I suppose, as the consumer. I'm not sure what I can do, though, other than support the Digital Storefront program (such as it is) as my way of saying that yes, I want digital comics, but I want to get them without screwing over the direct market. Even if the program doesn't support the direct market as well as it should, it's currently the only option I have if those are my goals as a consumer. 

The other thing I can do, as with other issues I have with Comixology, is wait it out. Yes, they are very quickly becoming the iTunes of comics, but before long Amazon will come along and start offering DRM-free digital comics (i.e. digital comics I can actually download and own) at the same price, and Comixology will be forced to try new things in order to compete. Hopefully one of the ways they compete will be by teaming up with retailers in a more equitable fashion. 

If only everything I wished for on this blog came true...

A Month Late and a Dollar Short: Flashpoint: Kid Flash Lost 2 and Flashpoint: Hal Jordan 2

In what will hopefully become the first of several cases of my wishing for something on this blog causing that thing to happen, this morning when I happened to check on the website of the comic shop I frequented when I lived in Seattle, Comics Dungeon, I discovered that they now have a Comixology-powered digital storefront, so today I bought my digital comics through them. I don't know how much comic shops actually get out of this program--I fear it's not much--but buying my digital comics through a business that's done good by me in the past makes me feel a little less like a dick for going digital at the expense of the direct market. At any rate, on to the reviews:

Flashpoint: Kid Flash Lost 2
Writer: Sterling Gates
Artists: Oliver Nome and Trevor Scott
Release Date: July 27, 2011 (Print), August 26, 2011 (Digital)
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 Pixels

Although there's nothing really outstanding about this series, I find myself enjoying it just a little bit more than a lot of the other Flashpoint minis because it stars the same Bart Allen I know and love, not some unfamiliar alternate reality version of him. In this issue, for example, he references the time he flew the Batplane, he makes a joke about how no one ever believes him when he says he has a plan, and his virtual reality upbringing plays a central role in his victory over the issue's villain. He even makes references to cousin Jenni and her teammate, Brainiac 5. Not surprisingly, considering his close ties with Geoff Johns, Sterling Gates knows Bart Allen well, and as a result reading this issue feels like visiting with an old friend. The comfort this gives me in contrast with the discomfort at reading unfamiliar versions of characters that should be familiar in other Flashpoint tie-ins makes me worry just a little about the more permanent tweaking that will happen with the New 52. Several writers have insisted that regardless of changes to their histories, the characters will remain who they are at their core. I hope they're right.

Also, I kind of like the nod to Back to the Future with Bart's hands fading away as reality changes, but Oliver Nome makes it a little more gory than Steven Spielberg did:

Flashpoint: Hal Jordan 2
Writer: Adam Schlagman
Artist: Cliff Richards
Release Date: July 27, 2011 (Print), August 26, 2011 (Digital)
Rating: 2.5 out of 5 Pixels

So despite what I said above about wanting to read stories with familiar characters, this story was just a little too familiar. Flashpoint Hal Jordan is pretty much exactly the same as regular Hal Jordan, except without the ring. This story is your standard "Hal Jordan is a cocky, immature bastard but when duty calls he grows up and saves the day, but in his own reckless way" kind of story. So I guess I want stories about the characters I know and love, but I want them to be new stories. There's nothing wrong with this issue, there's just nothing spectacular.

Also, I think it's weird that Carol Ferris's pilot nickname is Sapphire. That would be like Hal Jordan's pilot nickname being Lantern, before he ever heard of the Green Lantern Corps. They used that nickname for her in the movie too, didn't they?

Also also, I'm officially joining the camp of people who are kind of weirded out by Barack Obama not only appearing in, but having a speaking role in DC superhero comics.

Diving Into Digital Part 3: Why Digital?

In order to understand why I'm going digital, you have to understand first that I am a very practical person. A practical person who, as a thirty-one-year-old professional and father of three, still reads superhero comics religiously, but practical nonetheless. Every decision I make, whether it involves marriage and children or simply getting breakfast items from the fridge to the dining room table in as few trips as possible, is made after analyzing all alternatives and their possible outcomes. At work, I'm praised for my efficiency. So when it comes to buying comics, my goal has always been to maximize enjoyment while reducing cost.

When I was a kid, I took a half-hour bus ride to Gecko Comics in Kaimuki every week because they gave me a better discount than Jelly's Comics, which was just down the street. The better discount meant I could buy more comics with my limited budget (a very small monthly allowance plus paper route earnings). When I was in college I discovered G-Mart, a really great online store that offers 35% discounts on DC advance orders and free shipping on orders of $85 or more. Depending on my budget, $85 usually meant a month or two of comics for me, so I got my comics shipped every other month or so, the most recent comics just a week and a half after their release date. I also discovered during this time that I didn't really want to move nine long boxes with me every time I relocated, which was pretty often, so I started downsizing my collection. I sold comics on eBay and replaced them when I could with more durable and re-readable trade paperbacks. Then I decided it was silly to buy comics, read them once, and sell them for less money, only to spend the money again on trade paperbacks. Why not just wait for the trade in the first place?

I've tried waiting for the trade for the past six or seven years now, with varying degrees of success. The problem is that the practical adult in me is constantly at war with the eager fanboy who wants to read that latest issue of Teen Titans right now! So while I was in grad school in Seattle, I checked out the local comic shops (there are several) and found Comics Dungeon, which offered enough of a subscribers' discount to appease the miser in me. Then I moved to Davis, California, and was equally happy with Drom's Comics. I enjoyed making the trip to the comic shop every week, chatting with the owner, and knowing that I was as up-to-date on the happenings of the DC Universe as my inner fanboy needed to be.

Who returns from the dead in this issue? I'll have to wait a month to find out if I don't buy it now. Oh, who am I kidding? I read the spoiler online the day before it was released.

Then I moved to Orem, Utah, where we have some decent comic shops around, but nothing like Comics Dungeon or Drom's. And worst of all, no subscriber's discount. I just couldn't justify spending three bucks for a comic book (this will be ironic in just a minute). So I went back to G-Mart, ordering floppies of the most important series I couldn't trade-wait for, and trades for all the rest. So now instead of living between Wednesdays, I live between the random day every month or two when my G-Mart order has accumulated to $85 and a shipment of comics arrive. (Please note that G-Mart does offer other, faster shipping options to people less practical-minded than I, but those options cost money and we've established that that's a bad thing, right?)

Then along comes Comixology. As I mentioned in Part 1, I've been checking out digital comics for a few months now. I realized at one point that in most cases it's cheaper to buy individual back issues at $1.99 a piece than to buy the equivalent trade collection, even with G-Mart's advance order discount, so I've been buying series that I otherwise would have trade-waited for, like Green Lantern and Gotham City Sirens. And I've decided I kind of like getting my comics this way. Generally I've been able to get comics earlier than the trade release, and a little cheaper, and I still get to keep them forever without the hassle of long boxes. (Never mind the fact that you don't actually own comics that live on Comixology's servers; that's a post for another day.)

So I was already digging digital when DC announced the New 52 would be available digitally the same day as print. This seemed like a good time to make the full plunge into digital. I have all the benefits mentioned above, plus I get to read comics on the day they're released, without having to go anywhere (as I've mentioned before, I work from home; the longer I do so, the more of a recluse I become, and going places is such a hassle). But then there's the price issue. Mems how spending three bucks for a comic is ridiculous? How about spending three bucks for a comic I don't really own? But the fanboy really really wants to read new comics now. And Mr. Practical really doesn't want more long boxes. And the lazy part of me is kind of tired of buying comics, reading them, then scanning the covers and listing them on eBay so that I can then replace them with trades.

So I made a compromise: The few comics I'm really excited for, the ones I have to read the day they're released, I'll pay full price for. The rest I'll read a month later, when the price drops a dollar to the same price I would have paid by pre-ordering through G-Mart. We'll see how long this appeases both sides of me.

[Aside to G-Mart and the other comic shops I've linked to above: As soon as you decide to participate in Comixology's Digital Storefront program, I will totally buy my digital comics through you. I'd just as soon give part of my money to you as give it all to Comixology and DC.]

Reading over this post now, I don't believe I've convinced anyone that I'm a practical person. Hopefully, though, I've convinced you to at least read the coming conclusion to my blog intro, Diving Into Digital Part 4...